The Loophole in the City Limits
A technicality regarding state versus city law leaves police empty-handed in a speeding crackdown on Pacific Avenue.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Although the policemen who had arrested nine autoists for speeding on Pacific Avenue were ready to swear that the machines were exceeding the city limit of 10 miles per hour, when the cases came up before Judge Amtson yesterday afternoon they could not say whether the automobiles had gone faster than 12 miles per hour, and the judge immediately dismissed the cases. The police had determined to handle the cases as city cases, but just before court had convened the county attorney's office took the matter in charge, and made out state charges against the chauffeurs. When the policemen were asked if the cars were going faster than 12 miles per hour, they replied, 'No, we can't swear to that, but according to the stopwatches, they were exceeding 10 miles per hour.' Further arrests will be made, it is promised, and the police will try to enforce the state law.
“No, we can't swear to that, but according to the stopwatches, they were exceeding 10 miles per hour.”
Early 20th-century battles over traffic enforcement reflect modern struggles with jurisdictional overlap between municipal and state authorities. It remains a classic civic dance: police attempting to curb the rapid growth of the automobile while local judges demand rigorous evidence.
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